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that he married such a woman a&
he thought would accomplish the
object. The best part of the story
is, that the wife hearing of the rea-
sons; why he married her, was
much offended, and out of revenge,
became' orifc of the most pleasant
and dutiful wives in the town, de-
claring: that she was not a going to
be made a pack horse, to carry her
husband to heaven.
Wethersfield was the scene of
one of the most horrible butcheries
ever committed 5 that of tbe Bea-
dle family y in 1782.
Beadle was an'Englishman, and
' came to this country in. 1762. He
settled in Fairfield, where he mar-
ried, and remained until about 10
years before this tragedy. The
following are extracts from an ac-
count of this event, written by a
neighbor, and attached to the funer-
al sermon of Mrs. Beadle and her
children.
“ When the war commenced, he
had on hand 'a very handsome as-
sortment of goods for a country
store, which he sold for the curren-
cy of the country, without any ad-
vance in the price; the money he
laid by, waiting and expecting the
the time would soon arrive when
he might therewith replace his
goods, resolving not to part with it
until it should he in as good de-
mand as when received by him.
His expectations from this quarter
daily lessening, finally lost all hope,
and was thrown into a state little
better than despair, as appears from
his writing: he adopted apian of
the most rigid family economy, but
still kept up the outward appear-
ance of his former affluence, and
ever to thaMast entertained his
friends with mis Usual decent hospi-
tality, although nothing appeared
in his outward deportment, which
evinced the uncommon pride of his
heart. His writings show clearly
that he was determined not to bear
the mortification of being thought
by his friends poor and dependent. |
On this subject he expresses him-
self in the following extraordinary
manner: ‘ If a man,"who has once
lived .well, meant well, and done
well,- falls by unavoidable accident
into poverty, and. then submits to
be laughed at, despised and trampled
on, by a set of mean wretches as
far below him as the moon is be-
low the sun; I say if such a man
submits, he must become meaner
than meanness itself, and I sincere-
ly wish he might have JO years ad-
ded to his natural life to punish him
for his folly.’
“He fixed upon the night suc-
ceeding the 18th of November for
the execution of his nefarious pur-
pose, and procured a supper of oys-
ters, of which the family eat very
plentifully : that evening he writes
as follows : 61 have prepared a noble
supper of oysters, that my flock
and I may eat and .drink together,
thank God and die.’ After supper
he sent the maid with a studied er-
rand to a friend’s house at some dis-
tance, directing her to stay until
she obtained an -answer to an insig-
nificant letter he wrote his friend,
intending she should not return
evening—she did however
reffcttriiV perhaps her return dis-
concerted him " and prevented him
for that time. The next day he
carried his pistols to a smith for re-
pair : it may be, the ill condition of
his pistols might be an additional
reason of the delay.
“ On the evening of the 10th of
December some persons were with
him at his house to whom he ap-
peared as cheerful and serene as
usual; he attended to the little af-
fairs of his- family as if nothing
uncommon- was in contemplation.
The company left him about nine
o’clock in the evening, when he
was urgent as usual for their stay:
whether he slept that night is un-
certain, but it is believed he went
to bed. The children and maid
slept in one chamber: in the grey
of the morning of the 11th of De- |
